Tag: Mali

Aya Nakamura, French-Malian Singer, Is Caught in Olympic Storm

In four months, France will host the Paris Olympics, but which France will show up? Torn between tradition and modernity, the country is in the midst of an identity crisis. The possible choice for the opening ceremony of Aya Nakamura, a superstar French-Malian singer whose slang-spiced lyrics stand at some distance from academic French, has […]

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Coups Are on the Rise. Why?

Following the news lately is enough to make one wonder if coups might be contagious. Military leaders seized power in Gabon on Aug. 30, adding it to a list of at least seven African countries — including Niger just a few weeks earlier — that have experienced military takeovers in the last three years. The […]

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After Prigozhin’s Death, a High-Stakes Scramble for His Empire

African leaders allied with Russia had grown used to dealing with Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the swaggering, profane mercenary leader who traveled the continent by private jet, offering to prop up shaky regimes with guns and propaganda in return for gold and diamonds. But the Russian delegation that toured three African countries last week was led […]

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